Jewellery you don't make for yourself

When I started making jewellery I also started making gifts of it to family and friends, for Christmas and for birthdays. Conversely, family and friends stopped buying me jewellery of any kind for any occasion. I bought into this for a while, and even refrained from buying myself anything that I thought I could possibly make for myself.

But eventually I started feeling a little denied. Since making jewellery tends to involve an investment of finances in materials, and time in learning skills, many of the pieces I saw and liked just weren't getting made. Since much of my jewellery is silver, then that was all the jewellery I was making, and so that was all I was getting to wear.

So this year, with a birthday on the horizon, I explicitly stated that I would be more than happy for people, who were buying me gifts anyway, to give me jewellery if they so wished.

And they did.

I received a total of three necklaces and a pair of earrings which isn't bad at all after a jewellery-gift-drought of several years.

First up I received a silver and coral necklace via a shop called Babalu in Forres, a fantastic treasure trove of a place to look around and full of locally sourced Scottish crafts.

I also received a silver and garnet necklace via Aviv Silver.

And a butterfly necklace and pair of earrings came via Kate Hamilton-Hunter, who makes much of her jewellery from recycled biscuit tins.

I also treated myself in the sales of a high street jewellery chain (tut tut) when I had some money left on a gift card...

All in all, I'm rather pleased I'm back in the market for jewellery gifts...

Hearts in January

Very, very slow to blog this year, after Christmas and the turn of the year itself. Tut. But I've been making again (after that same Christmas and New Year malarky) and have spent a fair time this week making hearts in preparation for Valentine's Day, chasing away the dark gloom of the January weather in doing so.

This is them, as a work in progress, looking pretty dull after just being subjected to some creation by soldering:


A good few more are also in various stages of production.

Next is the description writing process . . . which sometimes seems to take longer than making the jewellery itself . . .

Silver Hearts

A selection of pretty silver hearts, all easily strung on ribbon, although a chain necklace could also be used.

All these hearts measure around 2cm (about three quarters of an inch) and I use about 28 inches of ribbon, to make it easy to tie a bow at the back.

Silver heart 1

Silver heart 2
on purple ribbon

Silver heart 3
on lilac organza ribbon

Silver heart 4
on round purple ribbon

Silver heart 5
on pale blue ribbon